Main Line Overland 1947 Willys CJ2a Build

[Main Line Overland]

We have finally gotten around to giving our 1947 Willys CJ2A some attention. Some of you from the North East region may remember the Willys from our open house as well as the saga of our ill fated trip to the Vermont Overland Rally last year that ended on a trailer being pulled by our FJC. We purchased a few weeks before the event and cobbled it together knowing it was a 50/50 chance as to whether it would make it up there under its own power. Sadly it made it 300 out of 350 miles before the crank case pressurized and vomited all of its oil, and cut out. We threw in the towel on the on ramp to the Taconic Parkway as we knew no trailers would be allowed to come to the rescue and we would have to swallow a hefty tow bill. We had thought of taking the further gamble of filling it back up and going for broke, and with the help of a New York State Trooper we did just that, however we decided to post up at a local gas station and wait on the FJC to help us get up to the Rally. We did get it sloppily running enough to put around at the Rally and participate in the Overland Trophy competition for kicks, where we finished the course (all be it with the aid of Maxtrax) haha.

Any way we finally got it on the lift last week and realized that we pretty much were going to be getting in to replacing every tub body panel and structure piece with the exception of the cowl and fire wall. Discovering the small price difference between what we would have to order parts wise vs. the cost of a new tub with free shipping, we decided to go with the new tub.

After ordering the tub we got working on pulling the old one which proved difficult due to the “interesting” repairs done by previous owners over the past 66 years. We found about five different layers of sheet metal that was just installed with either bolts, rivets or small crappy spot welds in the floor pans. We also found that they particularly enjoyed fiberglass and bondo and sometimes liked to cover body mount bolts with both!

We ordered the body tub last Thursday and it arrived yesterday (Tuesday)! It was crated up very well and we are saving some of the angle iron crate structure as a body dolly for the future.


Last night we worked a bit later into the night and ordered some pizza and decided to see if we could pull the motor/trans/transfer case before it arrived, we got it out just before it arrived (about 25min) haha.

 

[AndrewDM]

Awesome,

This is going to be fun to watch!

Andy

 

[Haggis]

Very cool...are you building it stock or tweaking it a bit?

 

[Main Line Overland]

Awesome,

This is going to be fun to watch!

Andy

Thanks!

Very cool...are you building it stock or tweaking it a bit?

Right now we are going in the direction of a mild build with about 2in of lift and maybe 32's all on the stock frame after blasting and boxing. As far as drive train we are seriously thinking of adding a small turbo to the stock L-Head that we are breaking down for a rebuild now. We're still trying to decide if we are going with a blow through setup, or if we should toy with some mega squirt. Either way were going to add a much needed overdrive and hope some lager tires give us a bit more road going capabilities.

 

[Metcalf]

It is very cool to see another flat fender build on here. I learned, and am still learning, a lot when I built my latest one.

 

[pajeepman]

Didn't know you existed, you are only 35 minutes from me. My brother works 1 block away from you also. I'll be keeping an eye on your build here.

 

[Main Line Overland]

Didn't know you existed, you are only 35 minutes from me. My brother works 1 block away from you also. I'll be keeping an eye on your build here.

Glad you found us!

 

[shortbus4x4]

Would love to see it turbo charged.

 

[locrwln]

Looking forward to the build.

Jack

 

[Main Line Overland]

It is very cool to see another flat fender build on here. I learned, and am still learning, a lot when I built my latest one.

We have been following Rango for sometime now....awesome build thread and very informative!

Would love to see it turbo charged.

Yea, we are pretty excited about going down that route...after replacing the body we decided we want to keep as much of the stock frame/drivetrain as we can so we feel like we are still driving something old and not a kit car, and with the L-Head we dont think we'll be loosing that! Ha

Looking forward to the build.

Jack

Thanks!

 

[cshontz]

Turbo? lol

Was that your idea, Pete?

AWESOME.

 

[Metcalf]

What about a draw through turbo system using a Harley carb?

 

[Main Line Overland]

Turbo? lol

Was that your idea, Pete?

AWESOME.

haha, it might have been.

What about a draw through turbo system using a Harley carb?

We have seen a few draw through systems with the L-head, and blow through with the f-head. We haven't had a ton of time to totally plot out what direction we are going with the turbo system yet. The good news is that we have the motor ready to go get hot tanked and magnafluxed this afternoon. Also discovered that we have the "kaiser super sonic" head which has a bit more compression than others and is the coolest looking head for the L-134 in our book(should look pretty boss with a turbo set up).

we'll be getting everything off the frame this week to clean it up before blasting...and we'll update the thread with some more pics tonight.

 

[Jim K in PA]

Are you keeping the stock axles and upgrading to 1-piece rear shafts or . . . ?

Beware the slippery slope.:sombrero:

Keeping it on 32s is perfect, IMO. The best trait of a flattie is its ability to get through tight spaces, as much as tractive abilities.

 

[Metcalf]

I ran 32s on my flatty in the last version. With just a little tweaking you can get them to fit with just a little lift. 32s will let you do plenty of dumb stuff....

Gold bar rim.....sure....why not. This is basically the only super hard thing. You HAVE to go back up.....down was fun too!

Moving the rear axle back about 1/2-1" would make the 32s fit a lot better at low lift heights, but you would probably have to trim the wheel opening in the rear.

My biggest problem in this version was the holley 2bbl carb I use to run. It sucked. I switched to a custom modded Autolite/Motorcraft 2bbl and LOVE it. Do everything you can to make sure the engine runs well at all angles. Having the engine stall out half way up something like this with an 80" wheelbase isn't fun at all.